Curriculum vitae? Not exactly, it’s more a starting point as a bit about me. I’ve not read anybody’s blog from its beginning but this is the beginning of this one by me. So, for those who want to come along on the journey, you may like a bit of background; who is this person? What’s his background? I’m now 58, live in York [England] with the love of my life Jill [cliché but it’s true] and have been a qualified physiotherapist since 1996. Currently, I do some locum work as I enjoy much of the job but after 20 years some bits are beginning to be repetitive. I’ve worked for the MoD, the NHS and had nine years running a private practice with the help of Jill as practice manager. I specialise in neuromusculoskeletal conditions from headaches caused by the neck all the way down to painful toes and lots of stuff in between. I enjoy the problem solving – being a diagnostician [but far from House MD’s strange life] – and get a lot of satisfaction helping people manage their problems. You may have noticed “58… qualified… 1996” that physiotherapy was not my first career. Again, with the help of Jill, I took a degree in Physiotherapy at the University of Brighton [Eastbourne campus over an hour each way – we lived in Brighton]. That took a lot of commitment from both of us; the placements were even further away [included Margate and Ramsgate – about 4 hours each way]. Before that I was in the field of patents and trade marks; UK Patent Office and then with a firm of European Patent Attorneys. Making the change from patents to physiotherapy needed a lot of thinking about what I was good at, what I wanted from work, and what I had to offer. I wanted to use my problem solving skills, work with people, engage in anatomy and physiology and feel that there will always be something extra to learn. And now I am migrating to craft. Last October I signed up as a part-time student on York College’s BA Contemporary 3D Crafts [degree awarded by St John’s University, York]. “Why?” In my early teens I seemed to be pretty good at a lot of things, enjoyed woodwork, metal work and art classes but my Dad took the view that I could do that stuff in my spare time and that a job in science would make more money than being a plumber or joiner or being an artist. Dutiful son, I went along with it but also played a lot of golf [Dad was a very keen golfer and winning was important to him – but not to me]. Never did get round to consistently doing any of the craft or art stuff until now. Now, because several wonderful people died within a year of each other and they were my age +/- 5 years. That made me think on the “You only get one life”, “no one is going to give you a prize for how much money you’ve stored up when you die” and “if you want to do something, get on and make it happen”. The migration is leading to much introspection and other stuff which will be the topic of another post.
Best wishes,
Vincent
